need advice on how to deal with a friend

Hey
I came across this by accident but it seems like a good idea. My best friend recently told me (while she was drunk) that she is bulemic. She didn't give me any details at the time but obviously now I am worried and unsure how to bring it up again. I know I need to talk to her but I am not sure what I can do to help or how I should go about bringing it up/what I should encourage her to do now.

Any advice?

Thank you

well no one replied before so this is a bit of a shot in the dark but i dont know what to do. both me and my best friend have tried to help but she gets very very angry and insists that shes not doing anything wrong....but i doubt shed have told me if she wasnt worried about it. shes acting like its a rational thing to do and we rarely mention it. i feel like we're all pretending theres nothing wrong. we've all been through a lot the last couple years but normally can help each other through anything.

i feel completely powerless to help her, but someone has to. id really appreciate any suggestions or thoughts to help me understand why she might be doing this. its a disorder i sympathise with but struggle to understand (i dont mean to sound dismissive, i just really cant imagine how she must be feeling or how she ended up in this situation).

Yay! Three of us now in this prediciment. All I can say is (being the poor looser who tries to help everybody) try and research it as much as you can. Thats what I am doing. I only met this girl today but theres so much beauty in her soul I will do anything. She seemed to cheer up a bit after I talked to her for a while.

it's only natural that your friend will get defensive with you. A huge part of this illness is secretiveness and SHAME. It's a horrible horrible thing to go through and the thought of anyone else knowing about it fills me with fear - perhaps this is what she is thinking. Don't try to confront her too hard maybe, encourage her, tell her she's beautiful and that you love her no matter what she's done. She probably won't believe you at first but the more you say it the more she might believe you. That she told you when she was drunk is probably coz she'd lost her inhibitions somewhat, but this doesn't mean she's ready to talk about it sober! That you know about it and want to help her is fantastic, and keep supporting her. Definitely do some research and try to understand something of what she's going through. If she's your best friend perhaps you can understand something of why she binges and purges?

Just some thoughts, hope they're helpful

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It's really hard to help someone going through this. Just BE THERE for the person going through it. Don't judge them, don't try and get them to stop, don't lecture them, or they'll start hiding it from you too. Everyone has problems, and everyone needs someone they can talk to. Knowing that you really care for them might make them realize that they don't need to be bulimic.